THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME;THE UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING;KRAIG BIOCRAFT LABORATORIES, INC.
发明人:
Malcolm James FRASER,Randy LEWIS,Don JARVIS,Kimberly THOMPSON,Joseph HULL,Yun-Gen MAO,Florence TEULE,Bonghee SOHN,Youngsoo KIM
申请号：
US14754916
公开号：
US20150322121A1
申请日:
2015.06.30
申请国别(地区):
US
年份:
2015
代理人:
摘要：
Transgenic silkworms comprising at least one nucleic acid encoding a chimeric silk polypeptide comprising one or more spider silk elasticity and strength motifs are disclosed. Expression cassettes comprising nucleic acids encoding a variety of chimeric spider silk polypeptides (Spider 2, Spider 4, Spider 6, Spider 8) are also disclosed. A piggyBac vector system is used to incorporate nucleic acids encoding chimeric spider silk polypeptides into the mutant silkworms to generate stable transgenic silkworms. Chimeric silk fibers having improved tensile strength and elasticity characteristics compared to native silkworm silk fibers are also provided. The transgenic silkworms greatly facilitate the commercial production of chimeric silk fibers suitable for use in a wide variety of medical and industrial applications.
